


Pretty Little Puzzle Piece

by TheLovelyLadyAuthor



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Borderline Personality Disorder, Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Romance, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-05-30 21:04:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19411381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLovelyLadyAuthor/pseuds/TheLovelyLadyAuthor
Summary: Esme Collins is the new GCPD Archivist, taking over for Kristen Kringle after she 'disappears'. Her paths cross with Edward Nygma's, and they discover they have more in common than one would imagine.





	1. An Enigmatic Introduction

“Welcome to the GCPD, Miss… Esmeralda Collins.”

The young red head looked up, having zoned out slightly, but the words of the large, bald, GCPD Captain brought her out of it.

“Oh, please, it’s Esme. Just… Esme, sir.” She smiled softly, large green eyes falling sheepishly to the floor as she adjusted her thin rimmed glasses.

“Esme,” He agreed, nodding his head. “Well, we’re glad to have you. Our last Archivist ran off with an officer and we haven’t heard anything from them since. About time someone got our files in order again.”

“I’d be happy to do that for you, sir.” She nodded her head, giving him a charming smile.

“I’m glad. Find your way down to the archives and settle in, I’ll have someone come and check that you’re good in a while.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.” Esme nodded, before turning and making her way out of the office.

The archives were easy enough to find, and Esme didn’t even have to talk to anyone, much to her delight. She was rather anti-social.

_“You should talk to people more, perhaps even find yourself a boyfriend.”_

Esme jumped slightly at the voice that echoed in her head, and she turned her head, seeing the figure of herself standing there that only she could see.

“I… don’t need a boyfriend. Also… I t-thought I told you to stop this.”

 _“How can I stop? I’m part of you. Besides, you know I’m right,”_ The other Esme tilted her head, giving the real Esme a cocky smile. _“You just need to show a little more… confidence!”_

“I don’t need confidence! Now, please, leave me alone, I need to work, it’s my first day…”

Esme blinked, and her reflection disappeared. Shaking slightly, she turned back to the cabinet, pulling out a stack of files, before the sound of a throat being cleared caused her to shriek slightly, jumping and spilling the files from her hands across the floor.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” The dark haired man exclaimed, darting over to her and kneeling down beside her, helping her pick up the papers.

His fingers brushed against hers, causing her to jerk back slightly with wide eyes.

She swallowed and looked down, gathering up the remaining files before climbing to her feet, straightening out her skirt and looking anywhere but the man in front of her.

“What belongs to you, but others use it more than you do?”

Esme looked up at him at the sound of his words, her wide green eyes meeting his large, soft, brown ones, that looked upon her with a slight eagerness.

“Your… your name.” Esme replied, unsure, to which the man in front of her nodded.

“Correct. Edward Nygma.” He introduced himself, holding out his hand, the others clutching the files that he had collected off the ground, to which Esme placed her own in it, shaking it for a mere second before pulling away.

“Esmer- uh, Esme C-Collins…” She stumbled over her words, her face flushing the colour of her hair as she looked down at the floor.

“I think Esmeralda is a lovely name.”

Esme looked up in shock, but, before she could ask Edward how he knew her full name, he pointed to the cheaply made temporary name tag, that had her full name scratched onto a white sticker pasted on it.

“Oh, r-right,” Esme nodded slowly, hesitating, before slowly looking up at him. “Mister Nygma?”

“Yes, Miss Collins?”

“How… how long were you standing in the door before I… dropped all my p-papers?” She questioned cautiously, watching the way Edward’s expression flickered for a moment.

“Long enough, I’d say.” He admitted slowly.

“…and you heard my-”

“-entire conversation, yes.”

Esme began to shake, looking down at her hands. Someone knew. She was mentally unstable. She was going to get fired on her first day.

Noticing the tears that began to well up in the young woman’s eyes, Edward looked worried.

“No, no, no, don’t cry, it’s fine, honestly. I… I have conversations like that with myself too, it’s totally okay.” Edward tried to assure her, to which the young woman laughed weakly.

“Not like this, you don’t.” She shook her head, to which Edward carefully thought over his words before slowly responding.

“You see her, don’t you?” Edward questioned, to which Esme looked up at him with wide, horrified eyes. “Like another you. Standing in the same room. Almost like a more… confident, dark reflection.”

“How did you…?”

“Because its the same for me. I see a more confident reflection of myself. He tells me to be more outgoing but I try not to listen because… well, that’s not who I am.”

“I… I understand…” Esme looked at Edward with a newfound admiration, to which he gave her a gleeful smile, handing her the files.

“So, how were you thinking of organizing the files? Because I think the system could use a bit of work.” Edward changed the topic with a smile, to which Esme smiled softly, setting down the files on top of the cabinets before turning back to Edward.

“Well, I was thinking… lateral.” She explained, making a lateral motion with her hands.

Edward stared at her with a wide grin.

“You are… very enigmatic, Miss Collins.”

“So are you, Mister Nygma,” Esme smiled sheepishly, looking down at her hands. “I feel like… we have a lot in common.”

“I feel the same way, Miss Collins. Perhaps we could discuss our similarities more over lunch. I know this delightful little cafe only a block or two from here.”

Esme giggled softly, reaching up to tuck a stray loose curl behind her ear.

“Sure… that sounds lovely.”


	2. A Quaint Little Cafe

By the time lunch rolled around, Esme - the ever efficient worker - had laterally organized almost half of the records annex.

Looking up, Esme smiled at Edward as he stepped in, who gave her a kind grin in return.

“Ready to go?” He questioned calmly, to which Esme looked around the room and the current disorganization of the files, before nodding back at Edward.

“Yes, Mister Nygma. Just let me grab my coat.” She responded rather cheerily, much to her surprise, before she grabbed her coat off of the back of her desk chair and walked over to Edward.

“My lady.” He gave her a soft smile, offering his arm to her, to which Esme giggled softly as she linked her arm with his, allowing him to lead her out of the records annex.

Walking through the halls and into the main room of the GCPD, the two got a few stares, including that of two detectives.

“Detectives Gordon, Bullock,” Edward greeted them, using their names for Esme’s benefit, as he knew she wouldn’t know anyone by name yet, besides possibly the Captain.

“Ed.” They both nodded, before exchanging looks as Ed walked away with the beautiful new Archivist on his arm and out of the building doors.

“…why was everyone looking at us?” Esme questioned as the two began their walk down the streets, led by Ed, as he was the one who knew where the cafe was.

“Well, I’m not that great with women, or people in general, and everyone knows that,” Ed chuckled slightly awkwardly. “Also probably because the last Archivist who ran off with another officer was my girlfriend.”

“Oh, Mister Nygma, I’m so sorry. I had no idea.” Esme apologized softly, looking over at Edward worriedly, hoping he wasn’t mad at her for taking his last girlfriend’s job.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve… made my amends with it. It’s fine, honestly.”

The pair was silent as they walked the rest of the way to the small cafe located a block or two from the precinct, entering and sitting down at what Ed deemed his table, a small two person one situated against the large windows looking out at the street.

Esme smiled gratefully at Ed as he pulled back her chair for her and pushed it in once she sat, before moving around to sit opposite her.

The two gratefully took the menus the waitress handed them, before both ordering a coffee with two sugars, causing them to smile sheepishly at each other as the waitress walked off.

They were rather quiet while Esme looked over her menu, as Edward had been here enough that he knew what he wanted.

“Are you two ready to order?” The waitress inquired, setting down their coffee before straightening up and readying her notepad.

“Oh, uh, y-yes,” Esme nodded, as she felt the waitresses’ eyes on her. “I’ll have the grilled cheese with bacon and the tomato soup, please.”

Edward blinked at her in slight surprise before turning to the waitress when she looked at him.

“The same, actually, thank you.” He informed her, to which she nodded and smiled, turning and walking off. Esme giggled sheepishly, tucking a strand of long red hair behind her ear, while Edward watched her with a small smile.

“Our similarities seem to know no end.” She teased gently, to which Edward chuckled in response, leaning forward on his elbows and looking at her with interest.

“So it would seem. So, Miss Collins, tell me about yourself.”

“Oh, u-uh, what would you like to know?” Esme blushed softly, reaching up to adjust her glasses uncomfortably, honestly never really enjoying talking about herself.

“Well, what are your hobbies? What are you interested in?”

“Hm, well… I enjoy reading, I do a bit or writing and occasionally some art, uh, I also enjoy video games and puzzles.” Esme spoke thoughtfully, not really used to listing her hobbies.

“Ooh, I love video games. What kind do you play?” Edward questioned, tilting his head slightly as he watched Esme with fascination.

“I play all different kinds, I like to have a options. I’m a, uh… bit of a collector.” She admitted sheepishly, letting out a soft giggle as Edward’s face lip up.

“I’d love to play some video games with you sometime, Miss Collins.”

“I think that would be lovely, Mister Nygma. Oh, and… please, you can call me Esme.”

“Esme,” He smiled, nodding his head. “Well, then you can, of course, call me Edward. Or Ed. Whichever you please, I’ll respond to both.”

“Alright, thank you. So, what do you do at the GCPD?” She inquired, resting her chin on her hand while stirring her coffee with a spoon.

“I’m in forensics.” Edward admitted, smiling when Esme looked up in interest.

“Oh, that sounds fascinating. I would have loved to go into forensics but I could never afford post-secondary education. I was an honour student though and I did some studying on the topic in my free time.”

“Well, perhaps you could come along with me sometime to a scene, if you’d like?” He offered, to which she smiled.

“Sure, sounds good,” She nodded, before the waitress returned and set down their plates, smiling at the two of them. “Oh, thank you.”

The two of them ate in relative silence, making the odd little bit of conversation in between bites, before they noticed the hour coming to an end and they realized, much to their mutual unhappiness, that they had to be heading back to the GCPD.

“Well, I suppose we should be heading back,” Ed suggested with a sigh, pulling out his wallet, which caused Esme to do the same. “Oh, no, allow me, Miss Collins.”

“Oh, no, you don’t have to, I can pay for my meal.” Esme shook her head, pulling out a ten dollar bill out of her wallet.

“No, Esme, I insist.” Edward shook his head, handing the money to the waitress as she walked over, smiling softly at the two of them.

Esme smiled sheepishly, dropping her eyes from his and replacing the money into her wallet, nodding her head slightly.

Edward took the receipt as the waitress returned with it, before grabbing his coat as Esme did the same, before smiling at her and offering his arm.

“Shall we be leaving now, then?”

Esme nodded her head, linking her arm with Ed’s, and allowing him to lead her out of the cafe.


End file.
